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To join the London Bird Club and support our work please visit the LNHS website. The 2014 London Bird Report is now out - to get a copy please click here 'Tuesday 7th February 2017' NB Access restrictions at Rye Meads RSPB 8-16 Feb due to maintenance work - details here. No access beyond Ashby hide tomorrow (8 Feb) at least. *Bank Junction: Sparrowhawk calling above Bank of England 09:20. Heard, then seen. (Kieron Palmer) *Belhus Woods CP: 2 Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Green Woodpecker, Song Thrush, Goldcrest, Redwing, 3 Jay, 9 Long-tailed Tit, Stock Dove, Common Gull, 30 Lapwing, 5 Gadwall, 12 Pochard, 8 Shoveler, 5 Teal, 7 Tufted, Great Crested Grebe, 3 Little Grebe, 9 Cormorant & Weasel (Bruce Carson) *Brookmill Park: Song Thrush, 12 Redwing (Conrad Ellam) *Cheshunt, Brookfield Retail Park: Flyover circa 25 Waxwings disappeared behind trees heading N.East towards Turnford/Broxbourne at 12.25 (Ken Murray) *Eastcote (Deane Croft Road): Red Kite over at 14:52 (Jon Ridge) *Ewell: Hogsmill river - 2 Little Egret, 4 Kingfisher (Geoff Barter) *Fairlop Waters: Kestrel, flock of around 200 Lapwings, flock of around 125 Fieldfares (one of the largest Fieldfare flocks I have seen), 3 Linnets, 4 Redwings, 4 Shovelers 2 pr, pr of Gadwall, 4 Common Gulls, 4 Ring-necked Parakeets, 4 Long-tailed Tits, Cormorant. Right, that’s my lot. After 16 years in London, I am moving back up north. LB Latest News has been excellent – I have found so many posts extremely useful. I’m glad that a number of my posts have been found useful, too. Two quick things: 1) There is a widely held view that people down south are not as friendly as people up north. Could I just say that in relation to birding, I have found the opposite to be true: by and large, birders down south (and northerners in exile here!) have been considerably more friendly & helpful than birders up north 2) Cherish your Green Woodpeckers! A few birders here are a bit blasé about them. However, I have only ever seen about 2 up north - so do make the most of yours down here in London (Alan Hobson). Good luck Alan :) (JR) Your regular reports from Redbridge Lakes and Roding Valley Park, Woodford Bridge, have been much appreciated. The woodlark was very special. Best of luck up north. (Barry Jones); Go well Alan, I hope that it'll be as fulfilling as it was for those 3 special years at Uni (Frank N). Thanks for the kind comments. Barry, I'm hugely impressed that you remembered the Woodlark from 2012! Frank, yes, Uni years special - for both of us (AH) I love Woodpeckers. Always good to see the Yaffle and G.S. Has there ever been Wryneck or Lesser Spotted on the patch? (Simon Worsfold) Never seen either on my local patches, alas. I am worried that once I move back up north, I might well be saying that about Green Woodpeckers too! (AH). ''*Greenwich Peninsula: Chiffchaff old Sainsbury Eco park (Richard Green) *Hampstead Heath: C. Buzzard drifted low W over Ladies Pond at 1500 mobbed by a horde of Crows, also heard 2 or 3 Siskins in birch tops at Sanctuary Pond (Pete Mantle) *Hayes Hill Farm: 14 '''White-fronted Goose' in crop field am (per BirdGuides) *Heathrow: fem. Smew, 3 Goldeneye, Cetti's Warbler (Adam Cheeseman) *Hogsmill STW Nature Reserve: 2 Greylag Goose W, 2 Shelduck E, Gadwall, 8 Shoveler, 2 Pochard, Little Egret S, 12 Redwing over, 9 Linnet (Andrew Skotnicki) *Lamorbey Park: Firecrest behind benches W of lake, Greylag Goose, Greylag x Canada hybrid, 17 Tufted Duck, 2 Little Grebe, 5 Cormorant, 2 Grey Heron, Peregrine, Kingfisher, 6+ Goldcrest (Ian Stewart) *London Wetland Centre: 3 Bittern, 8 Common Snipe, 2 Water Pipit, 1m Stonechat, 7 Pintail, 2 Shelduck and 2 Peregrine on Ch. X. Hospital (Martin Honey) *Oxleas Wood: Goldcrest, Coal Tit, Songthrush, Goldfinch, Nuthatch, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Jackdaw, Stock Dove, Chaffinch (Ron Turner) *Pinner (HA5): Red Kite over at 14:22, Cormorant west at 16:55, Pied Wagtail & Coal Tit (Jon Ridge) *Primrose Hill: c90 Redwing feeding below viewpt 15:30-15:40 (Twitter) *Regent's Park: Water Rail in rail ditch nr Hanover Br (area 2) 1630, c15 Lesser Black-backed Gull & c220 Herring Gull on playing fields 1700, m Tawny Owl h Leaf Yard Wd (a40) 1720 then 1 NE fr wood 1740 (Twitter) *Rotherhithe: Red-crested Pochard (Surrey Water), Firecrest (Stave Hill), Blackcap (James Palmer) *Sidcup DA15 (King Georges Park): male Blackcap near Longlands Road entrance, 2 Canada Goose over, 52+ Black-headed Gull, 7 Common Gull, singing Song Thrush, 2 Mistle Thrush, Goldcrest, 2 Coal Tit. 21 species pretty decent in brief walk through very bog-standard piece of grass. (Ian Stewart) *Staines Reservoir: Slavonian Grebe & 3 Black-necked Grebe together south basin 11:00-11:30 at least, also Scaup still (Robert Martin via Twitter) *Wanstead Flats: 7 Skylark, 2 Redwing, 5 Shoveler, 4 Gadwall, 3 Teal, 2 Tufted Duck, Sadly the City of London Corporation has been clearing more habitat, supposedly to create more acid grassland (which it wont), it will severly impact ground and low nesting birds. Shouldn't effect migrants if we get any, but overall it is very depressing (Nick Croft) Sorry to hear this Nick. Did the Corporation consult local interest groups/birders etc? JanW Their workers said there was consultation, presumably the WREN Group was involved, but I usually get asked my opinion before work is carried out–otherwise I have no idea who was talked to NC probably nobody, i worked as a gardener for the corporation in the late 70s, many people spoke to me about work i was asked to do and expressed concern that their misgivings were being ignored, i always tried to pass this on to my "superiors" with the usual response being, do as you're told, don't rock the boat, I lasted about 6 months because I got a reputation as an "agitator" (Nick Tanner). *Woodberry Wetlands: Kingfisher (first for 3 months!) (Chris Farthing) 'Monday 6th February 2017' *Alexandra Park: Stock Dove mixed in with group of Woodpigeon on trees behind Grove Café, Greenfinch, Nuthatch, 20+ Redwing, Song Thrush, Mistle Thrush, Jay, Coal Tit, Common Gull, Pochard-like hybrid in Boating Lake, Green Woodpecker (Eduardo López-Salas) *Beddington: Jack Snipe, 2 Stonechat, Skylark, Rook, Wigeon, Gadwall, Teal, Shoveler, 16 Lapwing (Nick Croft) *Belhus Woods CP: 1 Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, 7 Siskin, Sparrowhawk, Kestrel, Water Rail (John & Janet Cadera) *Brookmill Park: Little Grebe, Coal Tit, 8 Redwing (Conrad Ellam) *Crayford Marshes: 5 White-fronted Goose observed feeding over on Dartford Marshes (Video and photos Twitter), 60 Fieldfare, 25 Linnet, 3 Skylark, Kestrel, 3 Stonechat, 6 Gadwall, Sparrowhawk, 8 Reed Bunting, 25 Collared Dove. Landfill and surrounding area only. (Donna Zimmer, Steve Carter et al) *Epping Forest (Highams Park/Woodford Green): Firecrest, 2 Goldcrest, 4 Long-tailed Tit, 3 Mistle Thrush, 3 Nuthatch, Treecreeper (Mike Smith) *Fairlop Waters: Kestrel, 23 Fieldfare, 2 Egyptian Geese, 3 Teal, 9 Gadwall, 3 Shoveler, 2 Lapwing (Simon Worsfold) *Finsbury Park, N4: Still c100 Redwing, also 2 Mistle Thrush and a Fieldfare (Ann Feltham) *Fulham: Yellow-legged Gull 3cy on River Thames off Lysia Street 14:45 (Josh Jones) *Highams Park Lake: 2 Pochard, 10 Shoveler 7m 3f (Mike Smith) *Hogsmill STW Nature Reserve: ad m Shelduck, 5 Shoveler, 6 Cormorant over, 11 Stock Dove, Redwing, 7 Linnet; also post-roost flock of Jackdaw at the western end of the water treatment works (Andrew Skotnicki) *Hormchurch: 20 Waxwing again along Abbs Cross Ln (BirdGuides) *Lamorbey Park: Firecrest calling c16.45, 2 Egyptian Geese, 8 Teal, 15 Tufted Duck, Little Grebe, 2 Little Egret, Kestrel, Peregrine, 3+ Goldcrest (Ian Stewart) *Lee Valley, Friday Lake: 4 Smew (drake and 3 red-heads), female Goldeneye (Simon Papps) *London Wetland Centre: 1 Bittern, 2 Shelduck, 1 Yellow-legged Gull (2nd W), 9 Pintail, 6 Snipe, 1 Water Pipit (WWT Website) *Margravine Cemetery: 2 Long-tailed Tit with nesting material going into usual nesting bush, 28 Redwing (Nathalie Mahieu). *Motspur Park: no sign of Cattle Egret 0730 (Shaun Ferguson via Twitter) or by 3:00 but there was a Little Egret which is apparently a regular in the horse field, 30+ Redwing, Stock Dove (Nick Croft) Surrey Bird News has confirmed it was a Little Egret *Oxleas Wood Redpoll Goldcrest Coaltit Jackdaw Stockdove Nuthatch Goldfinch Chaffinch Greatspottedwoodpecker Turner *Primrose Hill: 2 Collared Dove over singly but no northward movement like y'day (Twitter) *Regent's Park: Little Owl Cumberland Grn north end (area 25) 0720 (Twitter); possible Ring-billed Gull (adult or 2nd-w plumage) on lake near cafe at c.09:30 (Joe Taylor, without bins); No sign of poss R-b Gull pm. Water Rail in reed bed opposite Cafe (Bob Husband) *Roehampton, SW15: ad Peregrine - perched, I think a female (J.Wilczur) *Rotherhithe: Stave Hill - Firecrest (calling and showing well by chalk pond), Kingfisher, 6 Long-tailed Tit, 4 Goldcrest, 2 Great Spotted Woodpecker, 2 Redwing, Song Thrush, Greenfinch (Richard Page-Jones) *Rye Meads RSPB: Water Pipit still fr draper & gadwall_hides (RSPB blog) *Scratch Wood: Firecrest still, Skylark yr-1st, f Stonechat Dungeon Hill (DH&SW blog) *Sevenoaks WR: 3 Waxwing car park 0855 then N (BirdGuides) *Shepherd's Bush: 2 Waxwings briefly in rowans at west end of Gayford Road 12:30. Lots of berries here so may well come back (Josh Jones) *Staines Reservoir: 3 Black-necked Grebe in SW corner of S Basin at 0800 (Alastair Dent); Slavonian Grebe in NW corner of S Basin 08:30 close in near tower - then drifted out and south along western shore, also ad Drake Scaup on N basin with Tufties and Pochard (Bill Haines) *St Pauls: fem Peregrine soaring overhead at 12:30 (Charlie Farrell) *Stocker's Lake: Jack Snipe flushed, 2 Water Rail, pr Reed Bunting (Chris Sharp via Twitter) *Trent Park: 2 Teal, 2 Gadwall, 4 Pochard, 6 Tufted Duck, Sparrowhawk, 3 Goldcrest, 5 Nuthatch, 3 Treecreeper, Siskin (Robert Callf) *Twickenham: Red-crested Pochard male on Thames by bridge to Eel Pie Island (Tony Leppard) *Turnford: 28 Waxwing in small trees on A1170 to south of River Arms rbt but flew W at noon (Clifford Smout via Herts BC) *Walton-on-Thames: Mediterranean Gull ad\wp Walton Wharf by Swan Pub (Mark Elsoffer via Twitter) *Watercress LNR nr St Albans: Water Rail, Kingisher, Chiffchaff h (Tony Kavanagh via Herts BC) *William Girling Reservoir: 3 Black-necked Grebe 1415 - no public access but viewable fr Mansfield Pk (BirdGuides) *Woodberry Wetlands: Snipe, 2 Teal, also unconfirmed but very plausible-sounding account from an LWT volunteer of a Bittern flying from the north to east reed-bed at 10:30am (Chris Farthing) *Worcester Park: Peregrine E over The Manor Drive 0805 (Lee Dingain via Twitter) 'Sunday 5th February 2017' *Alexandra Park: 125+ Redwing, drake Aythya hybrid still Boating Lake, with 11 Pochard 6m 5f & 50+ Tufted Duck (Bob Watts) *Arnos Park: 2 male Nuthatch, 10 Goldfinch (Robert Callf) *Brent Reservoir: 70 Pochard, 5 Snipe, Little Owl, 2 Cetti's Warbler (Andrew Self) *Brockwell Park: 100 Redwing (feeding on grass, Norwood Rd side), 1 Stock Dove (Matthew J. Bradbury) *Brompton Cemetery: c30 Redwing, singing Goldcrest (David Jeffreys) *Canons Park, Edgware, Middx HA8: 20+ Redwings, 2 Goldcrest, Nuthatch, 2 Great Spotted Woodpeckers drumming, also on Seven Acre Lake (Private access) 2 Goosander m f, 2 Little Egrets, 6 Shoveler 4m 2f, 2 Great Crested Grebes, Tufted Ducks and Common Pochards (Robin Morden, Shailesh Patel, Bob Husband with NW London RSPB regular Birdwalk) *Chiswick Eyot: usual 2cy Caspian Gull on Thames briefly 1345 then flew upriver; earlier seen by Hammersmith Bridge (Josh Jones) *Colliers End: Barn Owl hunting alongside A10 at 1520 (Derrick Ling via Herts BC) *Cranford Park: 2 Sparrowhawks calling, Bullfinch f, 2 Skylarks, Little Grebe, Kestrel (Sue Giddens); 5 Great Spotted Woodpeckers, 3 Green Woodpeckers, 4 Stock Doves, c10 Goldcrest nearly all calling, 1 Little Owl heard (Wendy Marks) *Creekmouth: 2 Caspian Gulls (both 1w), Turnstone, Common Sandpiper, Curlew (Sean Huggins) *Greenwich Peninsula Chiffchaff, Fieldfare 2, Redwing 4. Ecology Park Little grebe, Tufted Duck 2, Snipe, Reed Bunting 1 male (John Bushall, Richard Green) *Crossness: Oystercatcher, Yellow-legged Gull ad, Common Sandpiper, 50+ Redwing, Common Seal (John Archer) *Ealing Green: 6 Redwing (Richard Woolley). *Epping Forest (Highams Park/Woodford Green): 2 Lesser Redpoll, in flock of c20 Goldfinch (Mike Smith) *Fairlop Waters and surrounding fields: 2 Short-eared Owls, Little Owl, Common Buzzard, Stonechat, 2 Treecreeper, Reed Bunting, Skylark (Neil Twyford) *Finsbury Park (Regina Road N4 3PT): 15 Waxwings at 1330, 30 Redwing (G Sawtell) *Footscray Meadows: 3+ Little Grebe, Cormorant (in tree unusual here normally fly overs) they have been more common in the trees since they were excessively pruned- at least something appreciates this Stewart, Little Egret, Grey Heron over, 2 Mute Swan, 2 Egyptian Geese, c10 Gadwall, c20 Tufted Duck, Water Rail, Kingfisher, Green Woodpecker, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Grey Wagtail, 4 Redwing, Cetti's Warbler, Chiffchaff, 2 Goldcrest, Nuthatch, c50 Siskin (Mike Amos). *Hertford: 2 Waxwing in tree outside The White Hart Salisbury Sq SG14 1BW 1110-1120 then N (Graham Knight) TL326126 *Highams Park, The: 4 Mistle Thrush, 5 Redwing, c30 Starling (Mike Smith) *Hogsmill STW Nature Reserve: Greylag Goose, 8 Shoveler, 2 Pochard, 20 Tufted Duck, 11 Cormorant over, Little Egret S, 7300 Black-headed Gull (6500 E), 420 Herring Gull E, 17 Great Black-backed Gull E, 12 Lesser Black-backed Gull (10 E), 11 Stock Dove, Skylark over, 4 Fieldfare (3 E), 9 Linnet (Andrew Skotnicki) *Horton Country Park: 300 Redwing, 12 Fieldfare, 2 Bullfinch (Bob Smith) *Kentish Town: Common Buzzard drifting S from 14:05 (Frank Nugent) *Lamorbey Park: 3 Little Grebe, Kingfisher, Redwing, 4 singing Song Thrushes, no sign of Firecrest and Mediterranean Gull in brief early visit (Ian Stewart) *London Wetland Centre: 4 Bittern, 1 Water Pipit, 1 Peregrine, 5+ Snipe, 2 Shelduck, 7 Pintail (WWT Website), 2 Caspian Gull 2cy (Josh Jones) *Middlesex Filter Beds: 8 Waxwing east side 1310 (Mike Messenger per Paul Whiteman via Twitter) *Mill Hill NW7: male Blackcap on feeder & Goldcrest on peanuts (very odd), 6 Goldfinch, 2 Nuthatch, 3 Coal Tit, 2 Long-tailed Tit (Steve Blake); female Blackcap & 1 Fieldfare in garden, Great Spotted Woodpecker f on TV aerial (Xav Fleming) *Motspur Park: Cattle Egret re-ID'd later as local Little Egret w/ horses at Green Lake Stables 1630 (BirdGuides) TQ228669 *O2, Greenwich: 1 first-winter Caspian Gull '''(Dante Shepherd) *Pinner (HA5): Red Kite west at 13:23, Great Spotted Woodpecker & Goldfinch (Jon Ridge) *Primrose Hill: first obvious if modest northbound passage - 2 Stock Dove, 10 Woodpigeon, '''3 Collared Dove (observer's 1st multiple patch sighting - landed briefly 0900 but harried by Magpies so continued N), Fieldfare, 6 Chaffinch, 8 Goldfinch all N - 08:15-09:45 (Twitter) *Rainham Marshes RSPB: 31 Coot, 9 Mute Swan, 15 Cormorant, 86 Linnet, 6 Long-tailed Tit, 2 Fieldfare, 53 Mallard, 2 Redwing, 18 Reed Bunting, 98 Redshank, 48 Shelduck, 47 Gadwall, 152 Teal, 54 Dunlin, 21 Meadow Pipit, 396 Wigeon, 1508 Lapwing, 10 Black-tailed Godwit, 231 Starling, 19 Skylark, 10 Avocet, 3 Kestrel, Buzzard, Great Crested Grebe, 2 Pheasant, 54 Shoveler, Barn Owl, 110 Greylag, 11 Pochard, 10 Tufted Duck, 12 Snipe, Little Egret, 18 Pintail, 60 Stock Dove, Golden Plover, Stonechat (Samuel Levy); 5 Russian White-fronted Goose still (John Ferguson & Tom Bell per ELBF Facebook); R Thames Purfleet: 5 White-fronted Goose arr'd 1640 & landed in Dartford Marshes, 12 Avocet, 660 Lapwing, 23 Curlew, Black-tailed Godwit, 527 Dunlin, 3 Yellow-legged Gull, Barn Owl (Fraser Simpson via Twitter); Bearded Tit (RSPB online sightings board) *Rye Meads RSPB: Bittern still, 2m Bearded Tit fr draper hide, Brambling in trees beyond toll gate am (Graham White via Twitter) *Sewardstone Marsh: 4 Snipe, 2 Stonechat, 3 Chiffchaff, 2 Bullfinch (Neville Smith). *South Croydon: 4 Waxwing still Goodwin Rd nr school 0925 (Ian Jones via Twitter); 3 Waxwings until 15:15 at least (Croydon Birders) *Southgate Chase Allotments: 16 Waxwing 1550 - 1600 at least TQ295946 (Robert Callf) *Staines Reservoir: 2m Scaup north basin still 0900 (Dominic Pia via Twitter) *Stoneleigh KT17: 1 Common Gull coming to bread in The Glade (Neil Batten) *Ten Acre Wood area: m Pheasant, Kestrel, c40 Lapwing, 13 Snipe, Jack Snip'''e, 10 Stock Dove (1 singing), 5 Skylark, 6 singing Song Thrush, singing Reed Bunting (Neil Anderson/G. Westley) *Thames Barrier Park: 1 first-winter '''Caspian Gull '''upriver 1030 (Dante Shepherd) *Totteridge Valley/Darlands Lake: pair Mandarin, 8 Teal, Reed Bunting, 2 Bullfinch, 2 Redwing, several singing Song Thrush (John Colmans) *Turnford: 33 '''Waxwing still in large oak by River Arms rbt EN10 6DB visiting central island to feed on berries am (Graham Higgins via Herts BC) TL364047 *Woodberry Wetlands: Water Rail, 2 Teal, Shelduck (Chris Farthing) *Woodford Green: 54 Redwing on Woodford Rugby Club lower pitch (Mike Smith) *Worcester Park: Little Egret on the horse field which later decamped to the Beverley Brook at Green Lane (Frank Nugent). *Yeading Brook meadows: pr Teal, Little Egret, 106 Common Gull, Little Owl, 2 Redwing, 3 singing Song Thrush, 9 Greenfinch (Neil Anderson) 'Saturday 4th February 2017' *Alexandra Park: 80+ Redwing mostly top of Golf Course before flushed by helicopter, also 2 Fieldfare, male Pochard x Tufted Duck with 8 Pochard Boating Lake (Bob Watts); 5 Common Gull in Boating Lake, Jay, Coal Tit, Mistle Thrush singing at sunset from top of a tree by NW corner of reservoir (Eduardo López-Salas) *Borehamwood: 2 Red Kites over playing fields near Football club (Simon Worsfold) *Brent Reservoir: 50+ Pochard, 200+ Tufted Duck, 12 Common Snipe, 3 Water Rail, 48 Redwing (feeding on Playing Fields with 100+ Starling), Cetti's Warbler, Chiffchaff, 2 Reed Bunting m f (Roy Beddard, Joe Taylor). *Colney Heath: 2 Little Egret, 30+ Siskin (per TyttGP twitter) *Crossness: 2 Bearded Tit in protected area, Water Rail, Yellow-legged Gull ad, Common Sandpiper, 11 Black-tailed Godwit, 5 Curlew, 4 Stonechat 2pr, Chiffchaff (John Archer) *Dartford Marshes: Caspian Gull 1w by Bob Dunn Way (BirdGuides) *Ewell, Hogsmill Open Space: 1 Chiffchaff, 1 Grey Heron, 1 Sparrowhawk (Neil Batten) *Finchley (Garden N3): 2 Stock Dove, 10 Long-tailed Tits as well as all the regulars, also M Blackcap (Samuel Levy) *Forty Hall CP: 2 Goosander pr incl male saluting, Tawny Owl hooting 1545 (Robert Callf) *Fryent Country Park: 4 Gadwall, 21 Fieldfare, 16 Redwing (Joe Taylor) *Greenwich O2: 1 Caspian Gull 2cy - thanks to Jamie Partridge's photos (Charlie Farrell) *Greenwich Square: Outside the new library 1 Chiffchaff in the handful of planted trees by Trafalgar Rd, also pair of Robins (Joe Beale) *Hogsmill STW Nature Reserve: 7 Shoveler, Pochard, Peregrine E, Kestrel, 6400 Black-headed Gull (6300 E), 690 Herring Gull E, 34 Great Black-backed Gull E, 24 Lesser Black-backed Gull (17 E), 10 Stock Dove, Redwing SW, 25 Linnet (Andrew Skotnicki) *Hornchurch: 48 Waxwing Abbs Cross SC RM12 4YB (Dick Jefree et al per ELBF Facebook) *Lamorbey Park: 2 Little Grebe, 7 Cormorant, Grey Heron, 2 Mute Swan, 4 Canada Goose, 2 Egyptian Goose, c12 Tufted Duck, Peregrine, c100 Black-headed Gull, 2 Herring Gull, 2 Common Gull, Kingfisher, Great Spotted Woodpecker, c20 Redwing, Goldcrest, probable Firecrest (Mike Amos); ad winter Mediterranean Gull on school fields 13.25 but flushed - first site record (Ian Stewart) *London Wetland Centre: 2+ Bittern, 11 Common Snipe, 3 Water Pipit, 1 Peregrine, 2 Shelduck, 6+ Pintail (Martin Honey) *Lonsdale Road Reservoir (St Paul's Playing Fields): c35 Redwing, 8 Fieldfare (David Jeffreys) *Neasden: roost of 50+ Ring-necked Parakeets by Iron Bridge (Andrew Self) *Oxleas Wood: Redpoll, Siskin, Goldcrest, Goldfinch, Coal Tit, Stock Dove, Song Thrush (Ron Turner) *Park Royal: Powersgate (private site) 1 Common Chiffchaff by entrance, no sign of Waxwings sighted here on the 3rd (Charlie Farrell) *Pinner (HA5): 57 Redwing, Fieldfare, Great Spotted Woodpecker & 7 Goldfinch (Jon Ridge) *Rainham RSPB: R Thames Purfleet - Caspian Gull 1w (Fraser Simpson via Twitter) *Sewardstone Marsh, Pattypool Mead: 2 Chiffchaff, Siskin, singing Mistle Thrush, late afternoon (Martin Shepherd) *South Croydon: 4 Waxwing still Denning Ave/Crowley Cresc 1020 (Jo East per John Birkett via Twitter); 1 still 1350 (Ian Jones via Twitter); 4 present in Goodwin Road until at least 16:30 (Croydon Birders) * South Harrow (Newton Park West): 40+ Redwing, Fieldfare, Mistle Thrush, Song Thrush, Moorhen, 2 Lesser Black-backed Gull, 100+ mixed flock of Common and Black-headed Gull (Tim Rymer) is that 100+ ''each?'' sorry, no, now clarified (TR) *Staines Reservoir: 2m Scaup north basin, Black-necked Grebe (Dominc Pia via Twitter); 4 Ruddy Duck (BirdGuides) *Swanscombe Marsh: 1st-winter Caspian Gull, male Marsh Harrier, Common Buzzard, Avocet, Grey Plover, 130 Lapwing, 250 Dunlin, 10 Black-tailed Godwit, 3 Turnstone, Water Pipit, 4 Stonechat, 5 Cetti's Warbler, 2 Raven, 33 Magpies (Andrew Self) *Thames Barrier Park: 4 Caspian Gull first-winters (including a German ringed individual X319) and 2 third-winters (Dante Shepherd and Richard Bonser) Pictures here *Turnford: 35 Waxwing still Turnford rbt in tall trees till 1000 then flew to estate behind New River Arms pub down Academia Ave (Tom Speller via Twitter); 20 Waxwing 1315 on rosehip bush along footpath betw Longlands school EN10 6AG & Felton Close (Stephen Middleton via Herts BC) *Walthamstow Marshes: 30 Fieldfare, 2 Redwing, 2 Egyptian Goose, Pied Wagtail rear paddocks (Jon Agar); Common Sandpiper, Shelduck, 3 Gadwall, Kingfisher (Pat Critchley) *Waterloo Bridge: belated ID of Ring-billed Gull 2nd-winter seen & photographed y'day (BirdGuides) *Whitewebbs Park: male Lesser Spotted Woodpecker observed feeding in hornbeams 1407 - 1429, Firecrest 1429 - 1432 (Robert Callf) *Woodberry Wetlands: 2 Teal, 3 Reed Bunting, Shelduck, 2 Redwing, Fieldfare, Yellow-legged Gull, Cetti's Warbler (Chris Farthing) * Woodford Green: Male Blackcap in my garden (Steve Howey) *Worcester Park: Little Egret, 100 Redwing, Peregrine (Bob Smith) *Wraysbury GPs: 2 Smew m f, 16 Goldeneye, 3 Kingfisher, 1 Red Kite, 10 Fieldfare (Thomas Gibson) Middlesex: Purple Emperor A.iris map for Middlesex (Andrew Middleton, Liz Goodyear) 'Friday 3rd February 2017' *Bow Creek Ecology Park: 7 Redshank, c25 Teal (Charlie Farrell) *Bulphan/Orsett Fen: 30+ Red-legged Partridge, 2 Common Buzzard, 3 Kestrel, Sparrowhawk, 50+ Fieldfare, 40+ Redwing, 2 Goosander, 30+ Skylark, 10+ Stock Dove, Grey Wagtail (Nick Croft/Marco Johnson) *City of London - Cheapside: Lively Pied Wagtail dodging lots of City workers (Simon Robinson) *East India Dock Basin NR: Pied Wagtail, 8 Shelduck, 4 Teal (Charlie Farrell) *Grays Riverside: Avocet, Curlew, 4 Black-tailed Godwit, 7 Turnstone, 3 Grey Plover (Nick Croft/Marco Johnson) *Greenwich Peninsula Ecology Park: Little Grebe, Snipe, Reed Bunting (male) (John Bushal) *Greenwich O2: 2 Caspian Gulls 2cy (Jamie Partridge) photos etc here *Grovelands Park: 2 Firecrests (responded to XenoCanto), F Smew on lake (Quentin Given) *Hogsmill STW Nature Reserve: 4 Greylag Goose NE, 24 Canada Goose, 9 Shoveler, 22 Tufted Duck, 2 Pochard, Sparrowhawk, 2 Peregrine flying low over trees giving cacking calls, Kestrel, Water Rail, Snipe, 6900 Black-headed Gull (6650 E), 24 Great Black-backed Gull E, 13 Lesser Black-backed Gull (12 E), 17 Stock Dove (9 over), 2 Skylark SE, 16 Linnet (Andrew Skotnicki) *Horton Country Park: 2 Raven (John Gordon) *Lamorbey Park: 11 Tufted Duck, 2+ Little Grebe, Sparrowhawk, Peregrine, poss heard Firecrest calling but not nailed (Ian Stewart) *Lee Valley, Cornmill Meadows: male Stonechat showing well on fence in front of Wake Hide (Mike Oakland) *Lee Valley, Friday Lake: male Smew has returned to its usual haunt after a brief excursion over the county border to Bowyers Water (Mike Oakland) *Lee Valley, Seventy Acres Lake: male Goldeneye, female Goosander, Water Rail (Mike Oakland) *London Wetland Centre: 2 Bittern ''' (1 seen & 1 reported), 9 Common Snipe, 1 Water Pipit, 7 Pintail, 6 Mandarin and 1 Peregrine on Ch. X Hospital (Martin Honey); 4cy '''Caspian Gull grazing marsh 12:25 (Josh Jones); 2 Water Pipit still (BirdGuides); 148 Shoveler (site count), 6 Black-tailed Godwit circled then E, Stonechat grazing marsh (WWT website) *Moneyhole Lane Park: 2 Red Kite in dead tree (Lee Fitz via Herts BC) TL271125 *Park Royal: Powersgate (private site) c12 Waxwing '''flew in and perched on tree on site (Stuart Fisher) *Rainham RSPB: 5 '''White-fronted Goose 1200-1600 then E, Water Pipit still (BirdGuides) *Rye Meads RSPB: 2 Green Sandpiper & Water Pipit still fr gadwall_hide 1250 (Pete Waldron via Herts BC) *Scratch Wood: 3 Goldcrest, Firecrest still am (Graham Harris via DH & SW Facebook) *South Croydon: 1 Waxwing heard apparently from large dense conifer outside Fairhaven Court Warham Road CR2 6LF at 10:50; 4 Waxwings in Goodwin Road at 11:30, 2 Sparrowhawks hunting Warham Road area around 10:00 (Peter Phillips/Croydon Birders) *Stocker's Lake: Little Owl farm, Kingfisher, Blackcap, Siskin (Chris Sharp via Twitter) *Sutcliffe Park: 8+ Redwing, Little Egret, Common Snipe, Drake Teal (P Kite) *Swanley Park: Barnacle Goose (not ringed. Site First) (Andy Meaton) *Thames Barrier Park: Caspian Gull 4cy still (Jamie Partridge) *The Ridgeway, Mill Hill: 2 Coot on sheep wash pond 15:40 (Samuel Levy) *Trent Park: 2 Goosander, 4 Pochard 2m 2f, 8 Mandarin 5m 3f, 3 Tufted Duck m 2f, 2 Teal m f (Pete Lowman). *Turnford: 23 Waxwing commuting betw Turnford rbt & Canada Fields estate EN10 7NL (Roland Power via Herts BC) *Tyttenhanger GPs and Willows Farm: 4 Little Egret, Red Kite, 2 Buzzard, Caspian Gull 1w main pit still, 2 Green Sandpiper, Snipe, 2 Kingfisher, 5+ Tree Sparrow Tytt Farm, c60 Linnet Willows Farm, Yellowhammer h (Tyttenhanger birders via Herts BC) *Walthamstow Reservoirs: No sign of Black Redstart this morning (Quentin Given); Black Redstart on Walthamstow Filter Beds 12:00 best viewed from SW corner looking West along the base of the green slope which runs parallel to Coppermill Lane (Paul Whiteman, Lol Bodini) *Waterloo Bridge: Ring-billed Gull 2w (BirdGuides) *Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park: m Firecrest trapped & ringed (BirdGuides) *Yeading Valley (Minet Country Park): 1 Red Kite, 1 Kestrel, 3 Little Egret, 4 Reed Bunting, 4 Stock Dove, 1 Green Woodpecker, 2 Great Spotted Woodpecker, 1 Skylark, 30+ Linnet, 20+ Goldfinch (Dave Bookless) 'Thursday 2nd February 2017' *Amwell GP: 2 female Smew from Gladwyn Hide (Quentin Given) *Aveley (Mardyke Valley): Great White Egret flew S fr Aveley end of valley toward QEII Bridge 1010 (BirdGuides); Bearded Tit '''(per ELBF Facebook) *Bedfont Lakes CP: '''Bittern sitting on reeds opp black hide 0800 (BirdGuides) *Brent Reservoir: Sparrowhawk, Kestrel, Common Snipe, 68 Pochard, 4 Great Black-backed Gulls, 2 Redwing, Black Swan (in flight), Cetti's Warbler calling around Main Hide, 2 Goldcrest (Magnus Andersson & Simon Worsfold) *Brookmill Park: Little Grebe, 5 Redwing {Conrad Ellam} *Cheshunt GP: 2 Woodcock (Adam Wilson) *Canons Farm & Banstead Woods: Red Kite W yr-1st, 50 Fieldfare, c300 Redwing (David Campbell via CFBW blog) *Cowley, Uxbridge: Raven low north over the garden at 09.13 mobbed by the local pair of crows (Roger Morton) *Croydon: 4 Waxwing Warham Rd CR2 6LB feeding on 3 small berry trees in front gdn by rbt c1:30pm (Jack Barnes via Twitter) TQ319643 *Eastcote: Field End RG - 80+ Redwing, 5+ Fieldfare, 300+ mixed flock of Black-headed Gulls and Common Gulls, 2 Lesser Black-backed Gull, Mistle Thrush, c40 Starling, Roxbourne Pk - Goldcrest, Mistle Thrush, 6+ singing Song Thrush, 5 Redwing, Moorhen, 2 Long-tailed Tit (Tim Rymer). *Enfield Town (River View,EN2): fem Blackcap,15 Goldfinch, 9 House Sparrow (Robert Callf) *Grays Gorge: Firecrest again (per ELBF Facebook) *Greenford UB6: While in garden topping up feeders 15.50 Starling gave alarm & Peregrine flew low over garden (garden first) (Neil Anderson) *Hogsmill STW Nature Reserve: 3 Pochard, 14 Tufted Duck, 11250 Black-headed Gull (11050 E), 280 Herring Gull E, 18 Lesser Black-backed Gull E (16 E), 15 Great Black-backed Gull E, 4 Stock Dove, Fieldfare SE, 9 Linnet (Andrew Skotnicki) *Heathrow: 40 Golden Plover in field north of A4 by Hyatt Hotel (Adam Cheeseman) *Lee Valley, Bowyers Water: drake Smew still in north-east corner of lake (Simon Papps) *Rainham RSPB: 2 Water Pipit fr purfleet hide (Brenda & David Hale via EBwS News); 3m Blackcap (Howard Vaughan via ELBF Facebook); Great White Egret reported (RSPB online sightings board) *Staines Reservoirs: 1 Brent Goose on N basin along E bank late pm (Franko J Maroevic) *The Ridgeway, Mill Hill: 1 Coot on sheep wash pond 16:55. Also large Gull and corvid movement E, but nothing unusual. (Samuel Levy) *Trent Park: 2 Goosander, 2 Teal (m f), f Tufted Duck, 3 Pochard (m 2f), m Mandarin (Pete Lowman). *Walthamstow, Lockwood Reservoir: Peregrine, Kestrel, m Goosander, 2 Goldeneye, 8 Meadow Pipit, Little Egret (Chris Farthing) *Wanstead Flats: singing Skylark, 3 Linnet, Reed Bunting, Stonechat, 26 Tufted Duck, 3 Pochard, 29 Shoveler, 8 Gadwall, 3 Teal, singing Song Thrush, Ruby Tiger caterpillar (Nick Croft) *Wanstead Park: 48 Shoveler, 28 Teal, 17 Gadwall, 19 Tufted Duck, 2 Little Grebe, 2 Little Egret, Coal Tit, Goldcrest, singing Song and Mistle Thrush, singing Stock Dove, Kestrel, and Eel in Ornamental Waters (Nick Croft/Sean Kerrigan) *Warley CM14: 4 Waxwing in Headley Chase gdn on rose hips briefly 0945 (David Dunn via EBwS News) *Warren Gorge EWT: Bittern 0820 (BirdGuides) 'Wednesday 1st February 2017' *Alexandra Park: 30 Redwing perched on trees N of Rose Garden, 5 Common Gull on football pitch (Eduardo López-Salas); 2m Blackcap one alarming persistently in tree near Priory Rd main entrance and another within minutes in garden further along Priory 16.30 hrs (Jonathan Cooke). *Bedfont Lakes CP: m Smew again on south lake fr wooden pier 1545 (BirdGuides) TQ075725 *Belhus Woods CP: 2 White-fronted Goose E 0935, 27 Pochard, Water Rail, 2 Lapwing, 3 Snipe, Barn Owl, 7 Green Woodpecker, 2 Great Spotted Woodpecker, 2m Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, Kingfisher, Nuthatch, 8 Fieldfare, 9 Redwing, 18 Siskin, 2 Bullfinch, 2 Reed Bunting ('RB' per ELBF Facebook) *Bernards Heath: 5 Waxwing h Lancaster Rd but not relocated (Luke Massey via Herts BC) *Brent Reservoir: Snipe, 2 Green Sandpiper, 2 Cetti's Warbler (Roy Beddard, Neale Hider) *Brookmill Park: Little Grebe, 4 Redwing (Conrad Ellam) *Cely Woods: pr Lesser Spotted Woodpecker (Ken Copleston per ELBF Facebook) Where is Cely Woods? site info *Collier Row: 48 Waxwing Chase Cross Rd still (BirdGuides) *Dagnam Park: m Lesser Spotted Woodpecker seen well feeding in Harold Hill street trees then flew toward moat in Park 1110-1115 (Colin Jupp via EBwS News) *East India Dock Basin: Blackcap female in copse (John Archer) *Ewell: R Hogsmill pm - 3 Little Egret, 2 Kingfisher, 4 Grey Wagtail - no winter thrushes (Geoff Barter via Twitter) *Finsbury Park, N4: c100 Redwing plus a Fieldfare and a Mistle Thrush; 7 Red-crested Pochard 6m f on lake (Ann Feltham) *Greenwich Peninsula Ecology Park: Goldcrest, Water Rail, Little Grebe, Song Thrush, 2 Tufted Duck pair (John Bushell) * Grovelands Park: Little Grebe, 11 Egyptian Goose, male Pochard, 32 Tufted Duck 17m 15f, fem Smew - very tame, Green Woodpecker, Mistle Thrush, 2 Goldcrest including singing male, Firecrest feeding in holly near Rangers Hut 1311-1338 (Robert Callf) *Kensington Gardens: 2 Great Crested Grebe (Pair displaying), 1 Shoveler, 7 Pochard, 2 Redwing (Charlie Farrell); m Kingfisher still Long Water (Ralph Hancock blog) *Lamorbey Park: Firecrest still near W end of lake c08.30, 2 Mute Swan, Greylag Goose, 26+ Canada Goose, Greylag x Canada hybrid, 10+ Mallard, 6 Tufted Duck, 4 Little Grebe, 4 Cormorant, Grey Heron, Peregrine, 10+ Moorhen, 5 Coot, 100+ Black-headed Gull, 5 Common Gull, Herring Gull 3cy, 1w Lesser Black-backed Gull, 3 Redwing, 4+ Goldcrest (Ian Stewart) *London Wetland Centre: 2 Bittern main lake (N & S shores), 10 Common Snipe, 1 Jack Snipe (grazing marsh), 6 Pintail (main lake) (Martin Honey); 3rd Bittern, 2 Water Pipit (BirdGuides); 8 Pintail, 2 Yellow-legged Gull 1w 2w marsh, 40 Fieldfare, 18 Redwing, Stonechat (WWT website) *Muswell Hill: Buzzard mobbed by crows near North Circular road 15.15 (Andrew Bailey) *Pinner (HA5): Redwing, Coal Tit & 7 Goldfinch -'' not too great today (Jon Ridge) *Rainham RSPB: m '''Waxwing' 1w by visitor centre still (Max Hellicar via Twitter) *Rye Meads RSPB: Water Pipit still (RSPB twitter) *Stoneleigh Station: 163 Herring Gull ne, 6 Ring-necked Parakeet (Neil Batten) *Trent Park: 2 Goosander (m f), 4 Pochard (2m 2f), pair of Mandarin (Pete Lowman). *Tyttenhanger GPs: 10 Tree Sparrow, 5+ Bullfinch, Green Sandpiper, Little Owl, Kingfisher, 5 Little Egret, c250 Lapwing, c60 Linnet, 12 Redwing, Peregrine (TyttGP twitter) *Walthamstow Reservoirs: Black Redstart Coppermill Ln filter beds still (Jason Ward via Twitter) Where does it most frequent/ Any news on the Glaucous Gull or Swallow? Black Redstart has been all over site. Swallow departed, last seen 28/1. Glauc last seen 31/1. Dan Barrett '' '''Archived News' Link to previous months